Coffee Bean Grinders

[lovinthehd]

I don't know if 400°F is hot enough, or not.

FWIW, my roaster blows hot air through a revolving roasting chamber. It has 2 thermocouples and a temperature display that alternates between them. One thermocouple, upstream from the roasting chamber, controls the heating element. And the other reads the air temperature as soon as it emerges from the roasting chamber with the beans. I routinely roast until I see 458 to 460°F on the read out. That isn't the temperature within a coffee bean while inside the roasting chamber, but it's the best I can do.

Once I get to that stopping temperature, I get the very hot beans out as soon as I can. I cool them in a mesh colander I put on top of a downdraft exhaust fan. The photo also shows another reason why I got that roaster. I can send the smoke outside with that downdraft fan and a dryer vent hose. Yes, roasting coffee is hot enough to make a fair amount of smoke.
View attachment 59527

And the roasting odors aren't particularly good ones either....that is a cool machine, tho.....

 

[Swerd]

I have a popcorn maker I've used to roast with....it works but the plastic parts are warping. I like Swerd's machine....but not $650 worth. Trying my new fresh roasted beans I bought...a french roast (1/4 roast date) and the taste is odd at least in the aeropress....will try some in an espresso later....

Hot air popcorn makers do work. Sweet Maria's and others sell them. I never used one.

In the past, I used a smaller hot air roaster similar to this one below. It worked once I learned how to hear the all important 1st crack. It's only problem is the small amount of beans I could roast – and the smoke. The Gene Cafe I now have handles 200 g or more. At the time both my wife & I drank coffee daily. Since then, my wife has stopped drinking coffee because of the caffeine. But I still use that big roaster.

https://www.sweetmarias.com/fresh-roast-sr540.html

 

[lovinthehd]

Hot air popcorn makers do work. Sweet Maria's and others sell them. I never used one.

In the past, I used a smaller hot air roaster similar to this one below. It worked once I learned how to hear the all important 1st crack. It's only problem is the small amount of beans I could roast – and the smoke. The Gene Cafe I now have handles 200 g or more. At the time both my wife & I drank coffee daily. Since then, my wife has stopped drinking coffee because of the caffeine. But I still use that big roaster.

https://www.sweetmarias.com/fresh-roast-sr540.html

They work but still somewhat a hassle, quantities, handling of the roasted beans, etc just not a great tool for the job and they don't make popcorn makers like they used to, either.

 

[Swerd]

They work but still somewhat a hassle, quantities, handling of the roasted beans, etc just not a great tool for the job and they don't make popcorn makers like they used to, either.

Those two Fresh Roast models, SR540 ($209) and SR800 ($289) work similar to hot air popcorn makers, but they can withstand higher temperatures and they're made specifically for roasting coffee.

Still, roasting coffee is somewhat of a hassle. It's not for everyone. It did take me a while before I learned how to roast coffee properly. But once I tasted how good fresh roasted coffee could be, there was no going back.

 

[lovinthehd]

Those two Fresh Roast models, SR540 ($209) and SR800 ($289) work similar to hot air popcorn makers, but they can withstand higher temperatures and they're made specifically for roasting coffee.

Still, roasting coffee is somewhat of a hassle. It's not for everyone. It did take me a while before I learned how to roast coffee properly. But once I tasted how good fresh roasted coffee could be, there was no going back.

Your machine and exhaust system would make it a lot easier, tho I did notice those other two machines on Amazon, hopefully they're well executed....haven't dug into any reviews, tho....

 

[ryanosaur]

And the roasting odors aren't particularly good ones either....that is a cool machine, tho.....

Funny thing is the smell of roasting is different than the smell of coffee. The smell we know and love doesn’t really show up until after roast and a little rest.

I would guess with such small batches, chaff isn’t much of a problem. As Swerd said though, heat likely is, even with the exhaust vented, that thing looks like it would space heat the kitchen a little bit.

 

[ryanosaur]

@Swerd
How long is a roast cycle on your machine? How quickly can you turnover a batch and start again?

 

[Swerd]

And the roasting odors aren't particularly good ones either.

Yes. The odor you get while roasting coffee is unpleasant – not at all like the odor of fresh brewed coffee.

 

[lovinthehd]

Funny thing is the smell of roasting is different than the smell of coffee. The smell we know and love doesn’t really show up until after roast and a little rest.

I would guess with such small batches, chaff isn’t much of a problem. As Swerd said though, heat likely is, even with the exhaust vented, that thing looks like it would space heat the kitchen a little bit.

Been a while, but IIRC the chaff had to be cleared out regularly with each small batch of beans, with the hot popcorn maker a bit of a hassle.

 

[Swerd]

@Swerd
How long is a roast cycle on your machine? How quickly can you turnover a batch and start again?

About 15 minutes, just for the roast part. Each time I roast, I do two or three batches. The first batch is roughly 2-3 minutes longer because the roaster hasn't warmed up yet. And, I weigh out 200 grams per batch. More is possible, up to about 300 g, but it does take longer.

The manufacturer recommended smaller roast size of ~200 g to allow for longer life of the roaster. They also recommend cooling down the machine between roasts. I manually stop the roast within ½ a minute of reaching 458-60°F, and I remove the smoking coffee to cool in the mesh colander. And, as soon as possible, I put that empty roasting chamber back in the machine to run the cool-down cycle. It runs the machine, with the heater off, until the exiting air temp is 140°. With an empty chamber, that takes another 2 or 3 minutes.

So including cool down, a roast cycle is somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. I can do 3 roasts in about 1½ to 2 hours, including setting up and cleaning up.

 

[Swerd]

Been a while, but IIRC the chaff had to be cleared out regularly with each small batch of beans, with the hot popcorn maker a bit of a hassle.

Right, the chaff can be a mess. Some green coffee is very clean, and others produce lot's of chaff. (Chaff from roasted coffee is a paper-like covering on the green beans. It's a lot like on peanuts or almonds.)

The dedicated coffee roasters, even the small ones, have some way of catching most of the chaff. The chaff collector on my roaster does seem to work, but I keep a small dustbuster type vacuum cleaner handy as I roast. Other people do their roasting outside and don't care about the chaff.

When I roast, I separate much of the chaff from the roasted beans, by hand. Once they have cooled enough in the colander, I mix them around by hand, and pour off the heavier beans into a small bowl, keeping most of the chaff in the colander. Then I dump the chaff into the trash, and put the beans back into the colander to do it again a second, or even third time. That removes much of the chaff, but never gets it all.

Green coffee beans processed by the Wet Wash method seems to have much less chaff remaining on the beans than coffee that is Dry processed. Those processing methods are done by the grower and/or processing mill before you ever buy the green coffee.

 

[j_garcia]

interesting, prices have come down quite a bit in my area the past couple of months, I can get Prime for less than $20 lb and 30 day dry aged for less than $30 lb

Harris is around $24.99 /lb for the ribeye right now, which is about $8-9 more than 2yrs ago.

really, why not ??

Temperature isn't the only thing that matters to the flavor. Chicken and other stuff is OK in there depending on the dish, but steaks and chops, I like a little char/crust on them. Best steak I ever had was at a little hole in the wall up in Redwood Valley in the Mendocino area. They cook over oak and it tastes damn good.

 

[lovinthehd]

Harris is around $24.99 /lb for the ribeye right now, which is about $8-9 more than 2yrs ago.



Temperature isn't the only thing that matters to the flavor. Chicken and other stuff is OK in there depending on the dish, but steaks and chops, I like a little char/crust on them. Best steak I ever had was at a little hole in the wall up in Redwood Valley in the Mendocino area. They cook over oak and it tastes damn good.

After sous vide ya definitely gotta get some maillard reaction happening....

 

[Mikado463]

Harris is around $24.99 /lb for the ribeye right now, which is about $8-9 more than 2yrs ago.

just picked up a nice ribeye to go along with some Maryland crab cakes last week, 'prime' on sale for $15 lb

Temperature isn't the only thing that matters to the flavor. Chicken and other stuff is OK in there depending on the dish, but steaks and chops, I like a little char/crust on them. Best steak I ever had was at a little hole in the wall up in Redwood Valley in the Mendocino area. They cook over oak and it tastes damn good.

the secret to sous vide is a finish on a super hot grill, my son is an expert at this, perfect 'Pittsburg Med-rare' !

 

[j_garcia]

just picked up a nice ribeye to go along with some Maryland crab cakes last week, 'prime' on sale for $15 lb

Yeah, I can get decent steaks for less than $24.99/lb but those Harris steaks are so good. We order when they have sales now and have them shipped, get 6 or 8 of them vac sealed and just keep them in the freezer until we need 'em.

the secret to sous vide is a finish on a super hot grill, my son is an expert at this, perfect 'Pittsburg Med-rare' !

I do believe some restaurants are doing this same thing so they get the right temp. I use a cast iron pan, crust it and let it finish in the oven, when it isn't grilling weather like now. If I'm heating up the grill though...might as well cook it on there lol.

 

[ryanosaur]

I've had some Sous Vide steaks before... finished on a grill or in a broiler afterwords.
The finishing is important. No matter how well flavored the meat, plain beef right out of the vac bag is a little disgusting.

The best part is that you can Sous Vide a day or two ahead, and all you have to do is temper it a little and finish it. No worry about cooking time as it's already been taken to the perfect temp. Steaks with a little more connective tissue in them can really benefit from that treatment as you can get some of that chew cooked out, something you will never accomplish with just a Grill or Broiler alone.

That said, it is still not for everyone. Proper care does have to be taken when cooking Sous Vide, especially for temps that low. Taking a steak to mid rare and holding it for any length of time in the water bath is also right in the danger zone where bacteria thrive. Finding the balance point in cooking like that is key to safely reaping the benefits.

In my Cheffing days, I did a BBQ event where i cooked Tri-Tips Sous Vide to that perfect mid-rare and then we brought them up on the grill on-site. Cooking for a few hundred people and having your cooks be bored to death was a sight to see!

 

[highfigh]

I'll have to ask my co-worker who has a natural gas grill. If I look up replacement burners, it only says "gas grill" and does not list separate burners for propane and natural gas. I would assume that the temperature and flow rate would be similar.

Gas grills can reach 400° internally like an oven. I imagine that would be hot enough to roast coffee beans. Temperature on the metal grill can be much higher and would likely burn the beans.

Propane can be a more dirty way to cook and heat, so the orifices in the jets are different. It's all about the fuel/air ratio at the point of combustion, although the grill design would dictate what's needed- some are just burners with an entrance at one end and holes along the way, in the crude burner. It's a bit like an Acetylene welding torch- too much Acetylene and you get black, sooty crap floating around until the Oxygen is added.

 

[Eppie]

Propane can be a more dirty way to cook and heat, so the orifices in the jets are different. It's all about the fuel/air ratio at the point of combustion, although the grill design would dictate what's needed- some are just burners with an entrance at one end and holes along the way, in the crude burner. It's a bit like an Acetylene welding torch- too much Acetylene and you get black, sooty crap floating around until the Oxygen is added.

The black soot I get on the pots is from the side burner which has a different arrangement of holes. Main burners seem to operate more cleanly.

 

[tonyE]

Most home methods use electricity for heat. There seem to be no limits to the DIY designs.

From what I understand, roasting coffee is best done with high heat, rapid heating, and rapid cooling afterwards. There are probably a lot of ways to do that. They range from the crude but effective DIY heat gun – dog food bowl method, to home roasters that cost $3,500.

Microwave?

Good for making instant coffee, huh?

 

[Eppie]

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Thebrownbarista on home espresso machines